Hank Garner's Blog, page 13

Author Stories Podcast Episode 759 | Beth Ruggiero York Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Beth Ruggiero York, author of Flying Alone: A Memoir.

[image error]Beth dreamed of flying as a young teenager. But her dreams were almost grounded before they could take off when she received the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at the age of 22. Beth vowed that this new challenge would not put restrictions on her life and embarked on journey to become an airline pilot.

Starting at the small local airport, the aviation world swallowed her whole, and the next five years of her life were as turbulent as an airplane in a thunderstorm, never knowing when, how or if she would emerge. An agonizing love affair with her flight instructor, dangerous risks in the sky and flying broken airplanes for shady companies all intertwined to define her road to the airlines, eventually being hired by Trans World Airlines in 1989. Flying Alone relives the struggles and the challenges of civil aviation that Beth faced 30 years ago. Ultimately a story of survival and overcoming overwhelming odds, Flying Alone is told with soul-baring candor, taking readers on a suspenseful journey through terror, romance and victory.

“Flying Alone” is ”a memoir that reads like an adventure novel.”

Beth Ruggiero York is a former airline pilot for Trans World Airlines. She entered the world of civil aviation in 1984 shortly after graduating from college and, for the next five years, climbed the ladder to her ultimate goal of flying for a major airline. She originally wrote Flying Alone in the early 1990s, shortly after her career as a pilot ended and the memories were fresh.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 758 | JoAnne Silver Jones Interview

Today’s author interview guest is JoAnne Silver Jones, author of Headstrong: Surviving a Traumatic Brain Injury.

[image error]She didn’t see the hammer. For a fraction of a second JoAnne Jones saw a young black face, framed by a black hoodie, and then she descended into a place where she felt and saw nothing.

Jones survived this sudden assault by a stranger, but it left her with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), fractured hands, and PTSD. Headstrong tells the story of how she learned to live with the daily challenges of TBI. It brings the reader into a life traumatized by violence and set in the context of a society full of violence and vocal, visible white supremacists. Woven throughout Jones’s account are the stories of how medical professionals, friends, family, and strangers became a foundation strong enough to hold her during the worst of times, and to give her the buoyancy to find a path toward hope.

JoAnne Jones is Professor Emeritus at Springfield College in Massachusetts, where she worked for twenty-five years. While at Springfield College, Dr. Jones served as Associate Dean of the School of Human Services and Acting Dean of the School of Social Work. Before Springfield College, she was an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at the University of Calgary, School of Social Welfare. Her teaching and research focused primarily on social justice issues. In addition to teaching, she has consulted with public and private organizations in relation to diversity, inclusiveness, and excellence. She is a cofounder of the firm Diversityworks Consulting.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 757 | Georgie Blalock Talks The Other Windsor Girl

Today’s author interview guest is Georgie Blalock, author of The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Princess Margaret, Royal Rebel.

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In a historical debut evoking the style of The Crown, the daughter of an impoverished noble is swept into the fame and notoriety of the royal family and Princess Margaret’s fast-living friends when she is appointed as Margaret’s second Lady-in-Waiting.

Diana, Catherine, Meghan…glamorous Princess Margaret outdid them all. Springing into post-World War II society, and quite naughty and haughty, she lived in a whirlwind of fame and notoriety. Georgie Blalock captures the fascinating, fast-living princess and her “set” as seen through the eyes of one of her ladies-in-waiting.

In dreary, post-war Britain, Princess Margaret captivates everyone with her cutting edge fashion sense and biting quips. The royal socialite, cigarette holder in one hand, cocktail in the other, sparkles in the company of her glittering entourage of wealthy young aristocrats known as the Margaret Set, but her outrageous lifestyle conflicts with her place as Queen Elizabeth’s younger sister. Can she be a dutiful princess while still dazzling the world on her own terms?

Post-war Britain isn’t glamorous for The Honorable Vera Strathmore. While writing scandalous novels, she dreams of living and working in New York, and regaining the happiness she enjoyed before her fiancé was killed in the war. A chance meeting with the Princess changes her life forever. Vera amuses the princess, and what—or who—Margaret wants, Margaret gets. Soon, Vera gains Margaret’s confidence and the privileged position of second lady-in-waiting to the Princess. Thrust into the center of Margaret’s social and royal life, Vera watches the princess’s love affair with dashing Captain Peter Townsend unfurl.

But while Margaret, as a member of the Royal Family, is not free to act on her desires, Vera soon wants the freedom to pursue her own dreams. As time and Princess Margaret’s scandalous behavior progress, both women will be forced to choose between status, duty, and love…

Georgie Blalock is an amateur historian and movie buff who loves combining her different passions through historical fiction, and a healthy dose of period piece films. When not writing, she can be found prowling the non-fiction history section of the library or the British film listings on Netflix. Georgie writes historical romance under the name .

Author Stories Podcast Episode 756 | Samuel Shem Shakes Up The Medical Industry Again

Today’s author interview guest is Samuel Shem, author of The House Of God and the brand new sequel Man’s 4th Best Hospital.

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“If you want to know why the doctor spends all visit looking at a computer instead of you, and if you want to know how the doctor feels about it, this is the book for you: a mordantly funny tour through modern medicine with a powerful prescription for how to change.”

—Bill McKibben, bestselling author of The End of Nature and Radio Free Vermont

A retired doctor, Samuel Shem rejoined the medical community five years ago at NYU, where he was tapped as a Professor of Medicine to teach his seminal novel. Suddenly in the thick of modern medicine, he saw wonderful new advancements, but he also saw two new and horrific developments dominating health care: money and screens. Propelled by what he saw, he has brought back his unforgettable characters, including the Fat Man and Dr. Roy Basch, in follow-up novel MAN’S 4TH BEST HOSPITAL.

In MAN’S 4TH BEST HOSPITAL, The Fat Man, now rich and famous, has been lured to the House of God’s WASPy rival. Man’s Best Hospital—now suddenly ranked 4th best!—wants Fats to raise the hospital’s stature once again. But the Fat Man has a secret agenda: to start a clinic—leaning up against the giant hospital—that will put the “human back into healthcare.” For help he calls on his old crew, now older and wiser: Dr. Roy Basch, Hyper-Hooper, Eat My Dust Eddie, and more.

When Shem first wrote The House of God, electronic medical records did not exist. With each patient visit, doctors confront an endless round of boxes to click–designed to monetize patient care rather than store the information doctors really need. For each hour spent with a patient, doctors spend 2 hours with a screen. The result, Shem says, is the loss of the human factor in healing, causing great suffering in doctors and patients alike.

A darkly funny and eye-opening satire, MAN’S 4TH BEST HOSPITAL exposes the truths about how money, screens, and patient care have become inextricably tied. A resonant novel that will change the way you approach doctor’s visits, MAN’S 4TH BEST HOSPITAL lets patients in on what’s really happening in medicine, and how to change it.

About the Author

Samuel Shem is a novelist, playwright, and, for three decades, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. His novels include The House of God, Mount Misery, and Fine. He is coauthor with his wife, Janet Surrey, of the hit Off-Broadway play Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous (winner of the 2007 Performing Arts Award of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence), and We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues Between Men and Women.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 755 | Sharon Prentice PhD Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Sharon Prentice PhD, author of Becoming Starlight: A Shared Death Journey from Darkness to Light.

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Becoming Starlight is a memoir about the process of grief and its relationship to the mysteries concerning the afterlife. This book will bring comfort to those who are feeling unrelenting sorrow over the loss of loved ones. This memoir is a story of surviving grief and mending the wounds of loss.

“Becoming Starlight is truly sensational; everybody who is seriously interested in the question of life after death should read it.”

— Raymond Moody, M.D., Ph.D., author of Life After Life, Reunions, and Glimpses of Eternity

“In Becoming Starlight, Dr. Sharon Prentice describes the deeply human losses and hurts that gave birth to a vision of our true identity and place in this universe. Her life-changing—and life-giving—encounter with the divine simply had to be shared. This book is a gift.”

—Seth J. Gillihan, Ph.D., author of A Mindful Year and The CBT Deck, and Psychology Today contributor

“Dr. Sharon Prentice, in her book Becoming Starlight, assists all of humanity by transmuting our collective fear of death into love when she journeys to that mysterious place we call Heaven and returns to share her experiences with us. This messenger is worth listening to.”

— Tim Miejan, editor of The Edge Magazine

“In Becoming Starlight, the author teaches us the most important lesson of all—that love is the eternal fiber connecting all existence, living and beyond. Her extraordinary true story provides faith and ease to all who wonder what happens when our loved ones or we die.”

— Randi Fine, Author of Close Encounters of the Worst Kind, Podcast Host of A Fine Time for Healing

“A magnificent reckoning with love, death, God, and the unexplainable universe that surrounds us all. From living through devastating heartbreak to cracking wide open with indescribable awe, Becoming Starlight is a deeply personal story on where we can find peace, solace, and stillness in the world of grief.”

— Shelby Forsythia, Intuitive Grief Guide and Podcast Host of Coming Back: Conversations on Life After Loss

“Sharon’s experience is probably the most extensive and beautiful shared-death experience I’ve come across. And the struggles she experienced in her life demonstrate that no matter how hopeless life seems, all of us are loved by God, infinitely. Becoming Starlight is more than just the missing link in near-death literature (which it is), and more than just powerful evidence of the afterlife (which it also is), it’s a testament to the power, potential, and infinite worth of the human soul.”

— Chas Hathaway, Host of the Near-Death Experience Podcast

Soon after completing her graduate studies in psychology, Dr. Sharon Prentice found the world of secular psychology lacking-her patients needed “something more”. So, she set out to investigate and explore alternative methods in the field of mental health that would incorporate that “something special” she believed existed in each and every individual soul. Her journey would take her through the great religions of the world as well as to a discovery of ancient, time proven alternatives to modern therapeutic models of counseling.

Along the way, because of her unusual personal experience with death, she developed a keen, and intense interest in death and dying, and researched, investigated and interviewed patients who were in the dying process, individuals who had experienced NDE’s or SDE’s or had experienced something “weird, unbelievable, odd” at the time of death of a loved one. She found that “something more” in Spirit!

Her studies and experiences led her to seek out alternative learning centers which incorporated a much more spiritual approach to mental health. Dr. Prentice firmly believes that if one is not Spiritually healthy then it is nearly impossible to enjoy emotional, psychological or physical health.

Dr. Prentice is in private practice as a Licensed Clinical Pastoral Counselor-Advanced Certification. She is also a Board Certified Spiritual Counselor (SC-C) and holds Board Certification in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Group Therapy, Integrated Marriage and Family Therapy, and Crisis and Abuse Therapy. She is also a Board Certified Temperament Counselor.

Dr. Prentice is a Professional Member of the American Counselors Association, a Professional Clinical member of the National Christian Counselors Association, a Clinical member of the American Mental Health Counselors Association and a Presidential member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. She is also a Commissioned minister of Pastoral Care.

Dr. Prentice and her 30+ years of interest in the Spiritual health of her patients have guided her away from strictly traditional methods of psychotherapy to what she terms “crazy hot mess” therapy where all aspects of one’s being are considered and honored. Because of the nature of her experiences, both personal and professional, she has a unique understanding of the true nature of the Soul-and the need for ripping open the dark recesses of the Spirit where joy sometimes is held captive. “Crazy hot mess therapy” opens up-wakes up-the Spirit! She does, however, devote extra attention to those seeking solace and understanding after the death of a loved one as she fully acknowledges the experiences that sometimes accompany that death.

Her commitment to the health and well being of the Spiritual nature of her patients has led to her being called “an empath”, “ a mind reader”, “a healer”, “a spiritual guide” by her patients. Her highly sensitive, intuitive, and compassionate nature, her unique approach to therapy, and her truly empathic ways have engendered a loving and fiercely loyal following among her patients and her friends.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 754 | Ivy Claire Interview

Today my guest is Ivy Claire, co-author with basketball legend Kobe Bryant of Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof.

[image error] From the mind of basketball legend, Academy Award–winning, and New York Times–bestselling storyteller Kobe Bryant comes a new tale of finding your strength against all odds.

Set in an alternate classical world dominated by sports and a magical power called grana, Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof is the story of two children: the lowly born Rovi and the crown princess Pretia who uncover and battle terrible evil and discover their inner strength along the way.

Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof takes place at the most elite sports academy in the land, where the best child-athletes are sent to hone their skills. When Rovi and Pretia arrive, each harboring a secret about themselves, they begin to suspect that something evil is at play at the school. In the course of their first year, they must learn to master their grana in order to save the world from dark forces that are rising.

Ivy Claire is a former world ranked athlete and national and collegiate squash champion. She spent a decade competing internationally before turning full-time to writing. She holds a degree in classics and in a parallel life is a literary novelist. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

 

Author Stories Podcast Episode 753 | Rachel Levy Lesser On Memoir And Nonfiction Writing

Today’s author interview guest is Rachel Levy Lesser, author of the new memoir Life’s Accessories: A Memoir (and Fashion Guide).

[image error]Rachel Levy Lesser can relive almost every significant life event through an accessory. A scarf, a pair of earrings, a bag, even a fleece pair of socks―each contains the elements that put together the story of a life. Life’s Accessories is a funny, sad, touching, relatable, shake-your-head-right-along-as-you-laugh-and-wipe-away-tears, coming-of-age memoir. In fourteen essays, Lesser tackles sensitive issues like anxiety, illness, and loss in a way that feels a bit like having a chat with a good friend. Out of the stories comes solid life―and fashion―advice. About far more than just a hair tie, a bracelet, or a belt, Life’s Accessories is a window into the many ways in which Lesser has come to understand life―in all of its beauty, its joys, its sorrows, its heartaches, its challenges, and its absurdity.

Rachel Levy Lesser’s articles and essays have appeared in various outlets, including The Huffington Post, Glamour.com, Parenting.com, Kveller, Modern Loss, Scary Mommy, and The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. She is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania and received her MBA from the Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan. In her previous life as a marketing professional, she worked on the business side of Time Inc. on magazines including InStyle, Life, People, Real Simple, and Sports Illustrated for Kids. Lesser lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. This is her fourth book.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 752 | Chris Pourteau and Dustin Welch Talk Fiction And Music

Today we have a special show for you with my guests Chris Pourteau, author of the new book Optional Retirement Plan, and Singer/Songwriter Dustin Welch. Listen in today to hear the unique story of how these two storytellers talk about the intersection of literature and music, and how inspiration comes from the most interesting places.

[image error] When retiring isn’t an option, it’s kill or be killed.

Stacks Fischer is a killer for hire. For more than three decades, he’s loyally served the Syndicate

Corporation as its most-feared and respected enforcer around the solar system. He’s buried the company’s dirty laundry six feet deep, no matter who had to be taken out to do it.

Now, Stacks has a problem—he’s losing his mind to incurable form of dementia, and unwittingly spilling corporate secrets in public.

When SynCorp decides Fischer has outlived his usefulness, they decide it’s time to permanently retire him. But Stacks isn’t quite ready to go. With every one of SynCorp’s Five Factions gunning for him—and his own mind slowly rebelling—Fischer leads a pack of would-be assassins in a final, deadly chase across the solar system.

The old hitman refuses to fade quietly into oblivion at the hands of his disease or the business he’s dedicated his life to. He’s choosing an Optional Retirement Plan.

Don’t miss this pulse-pounding science fiction thriller filled with twists that will leave you on the edge of your seat. It’s perfect for fans of Titanborn, The Expanse, and Minority Report.

Chris Pourteau is the bestselling author of the sci-fi thriller novels of the SynCorp Saga (co-authored with David Bruns), the post-apocalyptic Serenity Strain novels, and the military sci-fi collection Tales of B-Company. His first novel, Shadows Burned In, earned the 2015 eLit Book Awards Gold Medal for Literary Fiction. The Lazarus Protocol, the first novel in the SynCorp Saga, placed in the Top Ten in Read Freely’s 2018 50 Best Indie Book of the Year contest; it was the highest-rated Sci-Fi novel in the contest.

He’s also edited and curated bestselling short story collections including the two animal-centric collections Tails of the Apocalypse and Tails of Dystopia (with Samuel Peralta), as well as Bridge Across the Stars, a collection of Sci-Fi stories from indie and traditionally published authors published by Sci-Fi Bridge, which Chris co-founded. His dayjob is editor-in-chief for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, which researches cutting-edge technologies across the transportation spectrum.

When he’s not writing, editing, or working the dayjob, Chris loves exercising regularly, watching shows like Star Trek and Stranger Things, and reading his favorite authors. Those include Bernard Cornwell, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Edgar Allan Poe, and Max Collins. He lives in Texas with his wife, son, and two dogs. (He’s a HUGE dog person, by the way.)

Find out more about Chris and his writing through his newsletter. Sign up and get free stuff at https://chrispourteau.com/newsletter

Dustin Welch was born on a cold Winter Solstice in a haunted plantation house on the grounds of a Tennessee horse farm. His birth room was heated by a red-hot $80 tin stove that burned whatever deadwood trees his dad could drag out of the woods by tractor and chains. He was the first born son of a first born son. His mother was the daughter of an Indian Princess, and the grand-daughter of one of the last living original members of the Osage Tribe. That very night his father made a silent promise, a sacred promise, that the boy would have a mandolin on his fifth birthday.

Five years later, almost to the day, his father sat in the early evening hours with the legendary songwriter Harlan Howard, talking about the upcoming Christmas holidays, and saying goodbye to each other till the New Year came. Harlan was a rich man, rich in heart and soul, and he said goodbye to the young father and left him alone in the giant publishing house. The father had not a penny to his name and the promise of the mandolin was weighing heavy on his heart. Finally, he dragged himself together and made his way down to the front door, where the receptionist was turning off the lights and locking up. She said that Harlan had left something for him and handed him an envelope. Inside were three crisp one hundred dollar bills. The boy got his mandolin, and the rest of the story just tumbles along like that.

Raised among the sons and daughters of songwriters, fiddle players, guitarists, banjo dobro piano players, publishers, song pluggers, hippie kids from Gaskin’s Farm, painters, pot throwers, and pot growers, he drank deep. They all drank deep. His 10th birthday presents included a cassette tape of Merle Haggard’s Greatest Hits. As the friends grew up together, they had the distinct advantage of often being able to ask, if they wanted to, how to do things from the very people who were making the records they were listening to. One kid band led to another, with second generation kids like Justin Earle, son of Steve, and Travis Nicholson, son of Gary, and Cary Ann Hearst, the girl kid down the street who grew into an astonishing writer and singer. The moms and dads attended their gigs with the same devotion with which they had come to their Little League ball games.

Inspired by his early exposure to such a vast wealth of revolutionary music, Dustin began devising a unique style of his own. Finger-style, open tuned, Appalachian flavored grooves and melodies coupled with literate lyrics, strange and beautiful, and the songs kept coming. He wrote them by himself, he wrote them with friends, relatives, the friends of relatives….

One evening in 2006, he was playing in the house band for a tribute to Townes Van Zandt at the venerable old Belcourt Theater in Nashville. The drummer that night was Ken Coomer from Wilco, who told him that he knew a band in San Diego who was looking for a guy like him. Within a week he flew out for an audition and didn’t go home for 6 months, touring with the Scotch Greens all over the US and Europe, opening for acts like Reverend Horton Heat and Flogging Molly, playing disciplined, slamming shows night after night. Then they embarked on the dreaded Warped Tour, a grueling deep summer, black-top circus of all out days and all night drives. It was classic. They lived. They killed. They disbanded. However, they are currently in the process of reorganizing and finishing a record they began five years ago with a bunch of Dustin’s songs.

Anyway, back in 2009, after relocating to Austin, Dustin released his first album, titled Whisky Priest, after the main character in Graham Greene’s consummate novel, The Power and the Glory. Another eventually followed in 2013 titled Tijuana Bible. Nowadays, he plays and tours on his own, with his band, and more than ever before, with his father Kevin. The highlight of Dustin’s active schedule is hosting a weekly songwriting and guitar workshop in San Marcos for Armed Forces veterans. It’s inspiring. It’s a beautiful thing.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 751 | Jared Beasley Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Jared Beasley, author of In Search of Al Howie.

[image error]The story of Al Howie is a remarkable and at times unbelievable adventure into the heart of the longest races in the world with one of modern history’s most eccentric ultra-marathon runners.

If you ran 2225 kilometres from Winnipeg to Ottawa, you’d be crazy. If the day after you arrived in Ottawa you showed up to a 24-hour race and started knocking back beers, you would be stupid. If you then ran the 195 kilometre, 24-hour race, won it, and ran all the way back to Winnipeg, you’d be a true freak of nature. If later, at 46 years old, you ran 7200 kilometres across Canada in the world-record time of 72 days, 10 hours, and then followed it up two weeks later by breaking another world record (which happened to be your own) in the longest certified race on Earth, you’d be a mega-distance alien. In all of this, if you were forever broke, using fake names and aliases, teetering on the edge of sanity, and doing it all in three-ounce racing flats, you’d be Al Howie.

Based on interviews with Howie himself during his final two years (he died in 2016), Jared Beasley’s book takes the reader into the incomprehensible distances of a legendary runner and the amazing and complex world of an astounding figure in modern sports history.

Jared Beasley has spent years as an actor and director, having written numerous feature screenplays and independent shorts. Originally from the American South, he has a degree in literature and theatre from the University of Alabama and is the co-author of The Black Sheep: The Fittest / Unfittest Bar Owner In New York. Jared lives in New York, NY.

Website: https://www.jaredbeasleyny.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/NYEigo2010

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DbJared

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaredbnewyork/

Upcoming projects:

Theodore Conrath Art Exhibition. Running at the prestigious National Arts Club in Manhattan from Oct. 28th to Dec. 5th, come see 17 works of art discovered in a thrift store of a long-lost artist brought to life and shown for the very first time.

Iron Casket: Filming will begin in November of a new documentary on a girl unearthed in an iron casket and promptly reburied.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 750 | George Stone On Building An Adventure Life

Today’s author interview guest is George Stone, Editor-In-Chief of National Geographic talking about the new book Epic Journeys: 245 Life-Changing Adventures.

[image error] From rafting the Zambezi River’s 23 stomach-flipping rapids to hiking the Inca trail and sailing from island to island in Greece, the travel experts at National Geographic reveal the world’s best adventures in this stunning–and practical–treasury.

From navigating the class-five rapids of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to sandboarding the slopes of a volcano in Nicaragua to dogsledding in the Arctic, this beautiful and comprehensive book offers trips of a lifetime for explorers and adrenaline junkies alike. Filled with more than 300 vivid photographs, this inspirational guide reveals over 225 of the planet’s best destinations for hikers, skiers, divers, rafters, and more. You’ll also find everything you need to know for the ultimate epic journey: what to see, when to go, and what to do. Combining adventure with cultural experiences–for example, a safari through Madagascar or visiting the ruins of Buddhist temples after sea kayaking the warm waters of Vietnam–this one-of-a-kind collection, complemented by top ten lists and adventurer essays covering everything from the best hiking trails to the top wildlife parks, will lead you to new heights of exploration.

George Stone, Editor-in-chief of National Geographic Travel & Epic Journeys foreword writer

A National Geographic Traveler writer and editor for 21 years, George Stone has written and edited award-winning articles, developed print and digital feature platforms that have extended National Geographic travel storytelling’s reach to new audiences, and advanced the brand’s mission to encourage readers to explore the world with passion, purpose, and an ethic of conservation.

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